Houston Iranians hold tragedy close to hearts

Group funds quake victims for rebuilding

LEIGH HOPPER, Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:30 am, Monday, January 19, 2004

Less than a month after an earthquake leveled the ancient Iranian city of Bam and killed at least 41,000, a grass-roots relief effort led by Houstonians of Iranian descent has raised $450,000 to rebuild schools, hospitals and housing.

"The immensity of this disaster is beyond anyone's imagination," said Ali Saberioon, who organized the initiative. "Knowing we can be counted on in hard times makes me proud to be a Houstonian."

Saberioon, owner of a Houston-based oil and gas production company, spoke Sunday at a multicultural memorial service for the victims of the Dec. 26 earthquake. The service at the George R. Brown Convention Center was attended by several hundred members of Houston's Iranian-American community, as well as by Mayor Bill White, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, and other politicians.

A slide show drew tears from some in the audience. By air, the desert city of 200,000, with its 2,000-year-old, mud-brick citadel, resembled an intricate sandcastle before the earthquake. After the quake, aerial views show something similar to a sandcastle following high tide, with only a few walls and building foundations remaining.

Latest Houston & Texas News

Company misuses information for 50 million Facebook usersFox 26 Houston

Fox 26 News Brief for March 19, 2018Fox 26 Houston

Take it to Akin helps viewer solve shower issueFox 26 Houston

Male birth control pill shows promise in studyFox 26 Houston

Family pleas for help finding man's killer 5 years laterFox 26 Houston

Trial begins in murder-for-hire caseFox 26 Houston

5 p.m. Mar. 19 FOXRAD ForecastFox 26 Houston

HPD investigators and family make plea for informationHouston Police Department

Former DOJ Official: Explosions May Be LinkedAssociated Press

John McClain on Texans' Tyrann MathieuJohn McClain, Houston Chronicle

Fear Spikes in Austin After 4th BlastAssociated Press

Church gives parishioners $125K to empower them to do good deedsFox 26 Houston

First known fatality from driverless Uber happens in TempeFox 26 Houston

Successful year at Rodeo HoustonFox 26 Houston

Overcoming fear of dentistFox 26 Houston

Pancho the dog destroys bathroomFox 26 Houston

Closer views showed the faces of grief-stricken survivors and the lifeless bodies of children.

There were prayers offered in English, Hebrew and Farsi. Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church music minister Hanq Neal belted out a gospel song, and another presenter chanted a passage of the Koran in Arabic.

White, who joined the Iran Earthquake Task Force board of trustees at the request of Saberioon, spoke with pride of the group's effort and of how "the us-versus-them mentality will begin to die" in the United States, "starting in Houston, Texas."

Many of the Iranian-American lawyers, physicians and business people attending the service were like volunteer Sheri Harati, who has no relatives in Bam and has never visited the city inhabited by farmers of date palms and citrus fruits and best known for its architecture. The domed fortress was a popular tourist destination.

"Unfortunately, I missed it," she said. "And it's not going to be there anymore."

Masoud Jamea, who works in oil and gas production, said the group conducted a similar effort after an earthquake struck Iran's Caspian Sea region in 1990. Money raised at that time helped build schools and a public bath.

Within a few days of the Bam earthquake, Jamea and Saberioon brought many of the same people together. They built a Web site, put up posters and used their connections to send hundreds of e-mails.

"We cannot remain indifferent to other people's suffering and issues," Jamea said. "We seem to live in a small global village."

The Iran Earthquake Task Force is hoping to collect $2 million. Saberioon said the group is covering its own overhead costs so that 100 percent of donations will go to the people of Bam. He said a task force will visit Bam within the next three months to determine how to use the money.